Abraham SanchezSanchez was convicted and sentenced to Death 3/12/09 in the May 2007 murder of 65 year old Ray Dienerin front of his West Donegal Township home in May 2007 in a botched burglary.

Alfonso SanchezSentenced to Death 10/3/08 in the murder of Lisa Diaz, 27, at a Warminster apartment in October 2007. That night in the Bucks Landing apartment, Sanchez also murdered Mendez Thomas, 22, shooting him in the head at point-blank range.

Ramon SanchezSentenced on April 10, 2003, for killing Lloyd Gehret in an Allentown apartment in July 2001.

Daniel SaranchakDaniel Saranchak, a father of five, was sentenced to be executed for the October 15, 1993 robbery and murder of his uncle, Edmund Saranchak and his grandmother, Stella Saranchock (she had kept the original spelling of the surname.) Edmund was shot between eyes as he was sitting on the couch. Stella was bedridden and was shot to death in her bed. Saranchak said he killed because he needed money to keep drinking with a friend and stole approximately $355.

David Allen SattazahnSentenced in February 1999 for the 1987 Palm Sunday murder of Richard D. Boyer Sr., 36, of Newmanstown, manager of the Heidelberg Family Restaurant.

Manuel M. SepulvedaOn November 26, 2001, Manuel Sepulveda was at the home of Daniel Heleva and Robyn Otto in Polk, Pennsylvania. Sepulveda lived with the couple and their two children. Around 6:30 pm, John Mendez and Ricardo Lopez arrived at the house to recover two guns that Mendez claimed belonged to him. Sepulveda retrieved the guns from an upstairs bedroom and gave them to Mendez. The men then left. Later that night, Heleva returned to the house with Richard Boyko and discovered that the guns were missing. After Sepulveda explained to Heleva that Mendez had taken the guns, Heleva instructed Boyko to call Mendez and have him come back to the house. At this time, another man, Jimmy Frey, was in the living room watching television. Mendez and Lopez returned to the house, but Heleva did not permit Lopez to enter. Mendez, however, came inside, where Heleva immediately accused him of stealing his guns, and the two men began fighting in the kitchen. When this fight was resolved, Sepulveda and Lopez joined Heleva and Mendez in the kitchen, where the four men then sat around the table talking. Boyko left the house. While the men were in the kitchen, another argument erupted. This time, Sepulveda grabbed a .12 gauge shotgun and shot Mendez in the stomach. He then turned the gun towards Lopez and shot him in the side. After Lopez collapsed on the floor, Sepulveda placed the barrel of the shotgun on Lopez's back and again fired the weapon, killing him. Sepulveda then chased Mendez up the stairs to the second floor of the house where he shot Mendez a second time. Although wounded, Mendez escaped from Sepulveda and Heleva and fled to a neighbor's house with Sepulveda and Heleva in pursuit. Mendez knocked on the neighbor's front door but before anyone answered, Sepulveda and Heleva grabbed Mendez and dragged him across the lawn back to their house. Frey, who had been watching the incident, retrieved the shotgun that Sepulveda had dropped on the lawn and hid it inside a sofa in the house. Once the men had dragged Mendez back inside, Sepulveda inflicted several blows with a hatchet, killing him.

Brentt SherwoodSentenced to death in the fatal beating of his four-year-old stepdaughter. He was convicted of beating the girl, Marlee Reed, when she was left in his care in December 2004. She died at a hospital the next day.

Rasheen L. SimpsonOn December 8, 1993, at about 9:00 p.m., Simpson, along with three co-conspirators, abducted Andrew Haynes (the victim) from somewhere in the vicinity of 18th and Tioga Streets in North Philadelphia. rasheed placed a phone call and wanted 20.000$ within 15 minutes - if not they would kill Haynes. The family could only offer 3.000$ and 2 vehicles. simpsons and friends refused the offer. At about midnight this same evening, officers with the Philadelphia Police Department responded to a report of a dead body found in a vacant lot at 18th and Somerset Streets, a location in close proximity to both Washington's residence and the site of the kidnapping. At that location, they discovered the victim's dead body. His hands were tied behind his back and a hat partially covered his face. The victim had suffered four bullet wounds to the back of his head.

Michael SingleySingley pled guilty in August 2000, to first-degree murder and other charges in the stabbing death of Christine Rohrer, the wife of his cousin Travis Rohrer. A month later, Franklin County Judge Douglas Herman found Singley guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of his cousin's neighbor, Jim Gilliam, who confronted him after the incident. Singley raped Rohrer and bound her with duct tape in her home on election night in November 1998, after he told her he had car trouble and needed to use her phone. He stabbed her 20 times and then stabbed and shot her husband Travis Rohrer, when he came home.

John Amos SmallWas sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1981 murder and attempted rape of 17-year-old Cheryl Marie Smith of Conewago Township

Christopher Smith aka Darryl MyersDate of crime: 12/1/2002Prosecutionís case/defense response: Smith and his cohort Aquil Bond (see above) were members of the "Manny Boo" drug gang. Smith and Bond fired more than 30 shots in the street corner killing of Abdul Brooks, which injured another person. He also participated in a home invasion of rival dealers where a child watched as they tied up his mother, cornered his father and shot both in the head. Not long after, he participated in the kidnapping of another drug dealer who was shot with an assault rifle, abused and his corpse hit with bricks. Finally, his weighted body was tossed into a river.

James SmithOn Feb. 6, 1985, Smith was convicted of 1st-degree murder, criminal conspiracy and possession of an instrument of crime for the 1979 revenge shooting of Davis Kelly. Smith was formally sentenced to death on May 6, 1986.

Wayne SmithSmith was charged with first degree murder and related offenses resulting from the strangling death of a young woman whose body was dumped in a creek. At trial, the Commonwealth presented the transcribed, tape-recorded statement appellant gave police after waiving his Miranda rights, in which appellant admitted killing the victim; he stated the victim agreed to have sex with him in exchange for drugs, and when he attempted to have sex with her, he became fearful she would accuse him of rape, so he strangled her and dumped the body in a nearby creek

Willie SneedWas sentenced to death for one of two murder convictions that prosecutors obtained against him earlier this 1985, for two killings that occurred three days apart in October 1980. The death sentence stems from the Oct. 14, 1980, killing of Calvin Hawkins, 22.

Raymond SolanoSentenced on May 30. 2003, for killing Almondo Rodriguez , who was playing basketball in an Allentown park in 2001.

Melvin SpeightIn February 1994, Speight was sentenced to die for the shooting deaths of two rival gang members.

Gaylord SpellWas convicted of first-degree murder in the beating death of SueAnn Brest. Brestís nude body was found March 1, 2007, in the parking lot of the Lawrence County Career and Technical Center in Shenango Township.She had been struck in the head 10 times with a blunt object. Two of those blows ó to her temples ó splintered her skull into star patterns, said the forensic pathologist who conducted her autopsy.

Mark Newton SpotzSpotz shot his brother Dustin to death during a fight at their mother's Clearfield County home on Jan. 31, 1995, then fled, killing three women within 48 hours in Schuylkill, York and Cumberland counties before surrendering to police in a Middlesex Twp. motel room. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in his brother's slaying and sentenced to death for murdering the three women. The last of his victims was retired Lutheran deaconess Betty Amstutz of Harrisburg, whom he killed in Cumberland County. He also killed Penny Gunnet of North Codorus Twp., York County and June Ohlinger of Schuylkill County.

Andre StatonDate of Crime: 2/25/04Statonís ex-girlfriend Beverly Yohn had a protective order against him and was staying at her motherís. Staton went to the motherís house and stabbed Yohn to death in front of her two children. He was on parole from a conviction for a prior stabbing. Staton claimed that he was high at the time, and that he had acted in self-defense.

Roland SteeleIn January 1986, Steele was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 88-year-old Lucille Horner, 86-year-old Minnie Warrick, and 85-year-old Sarah Knutz. Steele was formally sentenced to death in March 1988, and the state Supreme Court affirmed that judgment in June 1989.

Andre StevensStevens walked into Armandoís Lounge in Rochester Township in 1992 and shot Brenda Jo Stevens, 45, and Michael Love, 28, to death. In 1994, Stevens was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death by a Beaver County jury.

Ralph StokesOn March 11, 1982, Stokes and Donald Jackson robbed Appellantís employer, a restaurant known as Smokiní Joeís Korner, in Philadelphia. Armed with guns, Appellantand Jackson entered the restaurant before it opened. Appellant herded the employees into the walk-in refrigerator and threatened to kill them if they failed to cooperate. Despite the fact that Stokes wore a ski mask, some of the employees recognized him. In response to being identified by his co-workers, Stokes shot and killed two of them, Mary Louise Figueroa and Eugene Jefferson. Stokes terrorized and threatened two other employees, Renard Mills and Pierre Blassingame, but did not shoot them. However, when a United States Postal Service employee happened onto the scene, Stokes shot him in the head, killing him.

Patrick Jason StollarSentenced 3/24/08A Washington County man has been formally sentenced to death for killing an elderly Allegheny County woman during a June 2003 robbery. Allegheny County Judge David Cashman sentenced 29-year-old Patrick Jason Stollar, of Washington, on Monday for killing 78-year-old Jean Heck in her Upper St. Clair home.

James StrongConvicted and Sentenced to Death in the 1993 Murder of John Strock.Update: PA Supreme Court Overturned Conviction in 2000. Retrial Scheduled for March 2011.

Paul TaylorOn May 18, 1991, Taylor, his wife Valerie, and their three minor children, Paul, Jasmine and Rockelle, lived in York, Pennsylvania, with Valerie's mother, Donna Barshinger, and Donna's infant son Lance. Appellant came home that night at approximately 1:00 a.m. and found everyone asleep, except for Valerie who was out. Despondent over his drug addiction and his wife's indifference to his narcotics dependency, Appellant went to his tool box and retrieved a ball-peen hammer. Appellant, armed with this hammer and a kitchen knife, first went to the bedroom of his sleeping mother-in-law, Donna, and hammered her three times in the head and then slit her throat and face with the knife, killing her. Leaving her blood-soaked body, he turned his attention to Donna's two-year-old baby, Lance. Lance was bludgeoned to death with the hammer, which Appellant used on the left side of the child's head at least five times until he bled through the mattress and onto the bedroom floor.Across the hall from Donna's and Lance's bedroom Appellant's three children, Jasmine, Paul, and Rockelle, were asleep in another bedroom.Appellant entered this room and attacked two year old Jasmine and four year old Paul. Jasmine sustained three hammer blows to the head and Paul was subjected to being hammered five times in the head. Neither child survived. Rockelle, the youngest child, however, was spared and placed by Appellant unharmed in the living room, where he and little Rockelle waited eleven hours, or until noon, for Valerie's return. Valerie was with a friend, Tina Smith, from about 9:00 p.m. the previous evening until noon when Tina brought Valerie home so that she could pick up a pair of slacks. Once Valerie was inside the house, however, Appellant went to Tina's car and told her that Valerie would give her the slacks later that day and Tina left. Appellant then hammered Valerie to death, tied a green plastic bag over her head to gather the blood and added her lifeless body to the carnage, placing it beside the body of Jasmine, whose corpse had been covered with a white sheet and pillows. Appellant then hid the hammer under the kitchen sink and attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrists and stabbing himself in the abdomen. When neither of these attempts brought about death, Appellant tried to electrocute himself in the bathtub with an electric hairdryer. Finally, Appellant called 911 for help and the police were dispatched to the source of the call. Upon arriving, the police could hear screaming in the house and broke in to find Appellant naked in the bathtub and blood everywhere along with Appellant's victims and little Rockelle. Appellant was hospitalized for his injuries and survived. During his subsequent incarceration, Appellant wrote a letter of confession to the police on June 15, 1991, admitting his guilt.

Ronald TaylorTaylor killed three people March 1, 2000, during a racially motivated shooting spree in Wilkinsburg.

Donald TedfordMr. Tedford was convicted in the rape and murder of Jeanine E. Revak in January 1986. At the time, he was on work release from a state prison in Greensburg where he was serving a sentence for assault. He was working at a Cranberry interior design business when he abducted and raped Ms. Revak, who was 22.

Michelle Sue TharpTharp, after being convicted of starving her 7-year-old daughter Tausha Lee Lanham to death in April 1998, was sentenced to death in November 2000. The jury, selected from Washington County, was supplied with haunting evidenceópictures of a gaunt Tausha after her body was disposed of in a bush along a West Virginia dirt path.

Sam ThavirakOn July 2, 1991, appellee Thavirak Sam was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and received three consecutive death sentences for the killing of hismother-in-law, brother-in-law, and two-year-old niece.

Brian ThomasIn February of 1986, a jury found appellant guilty of murder in the first degree, burglary, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and rape. Following a sentencing hearing, the same jury sentenced appellant to death. On June 17, 1989, this Court affirmed the sentence of death on direct appeal.

Donte ThomasDefendant Donte Thomas (above) has been sentenced to die for murdering 23-year-old Tyreese Allen. Authorities alleged that Thomas was acting on behalf of a friend charged with an earlier murder. Police have charged the friend, Kareem Glass, with soliciting the murder of Tyreese Allen from prison. Glass was already in prison awaiting trial for the first murder. Tyreese Allen witnessed the murder of his cousin and was himself wounded during that shooting. But despite threats, he testified in that case. And it cost him his life.

Leroy Thomas aka Larry RushConvicted and Sentenced to Death in 1998 for the 1997 robbery/murder of Veronica Hands.

Michael TravagliaFor a week during the Christmas holidays in 1980, John Lesko and Michael Travaglia went on a crime binge near Pittsburgh that came to be called the "kill for thrills" spree. Between Dec. 29, 1979, and Jan. 3, 1980, they took the lives of a church organist, an unemployed security guard, a seamstress and a rookie police officer. Sentenced to death in the 1980 killing of Leonard Miller, a rookie police officer from Apollo, Armstrong County. Lesko pled guilty in the drowning of William Nicholls, 34, of Mount Lebanon.

Stephen TreiberStephen Treiber was sent to death row for killing the couple's 2-year-old daughter to get out of paying child support. Stephen Treiber set fire to the home in March 2001 so he no longer would have to pay $250 a month for his daughter, Jessica Treiber. During the investigation of the fire, Treiber showed police a threatening letter made by gluing words cut from newspapers to a sheet of paper. Prosecutors contended that Treiber fabricated the letter and forensic examiners found a dog hair stuck to the glue. Examination revealed a likelihood that the hair came from one of Treiber's own dogs, who also was killed in the fire.

Jose UderraIn June 1993, Uderra was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die for murdering 25-year-old Michael Sharpe. Uderra was formally sentenced to death on Dec. 1, 1995.